Curtis Secures Partial Summary Judgment in Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litigation

On February 17, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York presiding over the Aluminum Warehousing Antitrust Litigation granted the defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment dismissing all claims by seven of the ten plaintiffs, and restricting claims by an eighth. Curtis represents defendant Glencore Ltd. and certain of its affiliates.

The plaintiffs allege that Glencore Ltd., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., along with their respective warehousing affiliates, conspired to raise the price of primary aluminum between 2010 and 2016, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Reviewing federal cases concerning so-called “umbrella purchasers” who allege price-fixing but purchased only from non-defendant sellers, the Court held that the plaintiffs could not pursue claims as to their purchases of primary aluminum from sellers that were not alleged conspirators. Seven plaintiffs never purchased aluminum from any alleged conspirator during the relevant years, and so were dismissed from the case.

The Curtis team consists of partners Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman, and associates Nathaniel Ament-Stone and Mitchell Clough.